Texas Rangers Blog

Reports: Hamilton and Rangers “progressing”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – According to various reports on Twitter citing unnamed sources, the Rangers and Josh Hamilton are “progressing” towards a possible contract resolution Tuesday. The offer extended on Tuesday, according to the Opryland Speculation Network (otherwise known as the lobby), was for four guaranteed years and is worth more than $100 million. It would give Hamilton an annual average salary of more than $25 million per year.

As we wrote during the general manager’s meetings in California a month ago, the environment for a possible return of Hamilton seemed to be increasing daily. It appears the Rangers’ chances have only improved since then.

At the end of the regular season, the Rangers and Hamilton agreed the player would explore the free agent market and would come back to the Rangers before signing a deal with any other team. That doesn’t necessarily mean Hamilton has received offers from other teams. It could very possibly mean that Hamilton has settled on Texas as his choice and has instructed agent Mike Moye to work on hammering out an agreement with Texas. If so, it’s also very likely that Hamilton found no real hope that a rock-the-world kind of deal would emerge.

During spring training, it was believed that Hamilton was seeking seven years at more than $20 million per season and that his price only increased when Hamilton tied the major league record with four homers in a game in Baltimore in May. But his season tailed off after and he finished in a lengthy slump that may have diminished any leverage he had for such a deal.

What is known is that all the key parties to get a deal done are in close physical proximity today. Two of the Rangers’ biggest investors, Ray Davis and Neil Liebman, were scheduled to be in Nashville on Tuesday. Hamilton, his wife Katie, agents Mike Moye and Scott Sanderson are all in town. Sanderson was spotted having a casual conversation with Nolan Ryan in the Opryland lobby on Monday.

Manager Ron Washington didn’t speculate on Hamilton’s status Tuesday, but gave an enigmatic answer when asked if Hamilton’s return would impact the Rangers’ plan to give Craig Gentry and Leonys Martin a chance to split time in center.

“If he’s here,” Washington said of Hamilton, “you might see him in left, but you might see him in center.”